A top U.N. official is warning that action must be taken to prevent conflictsin several African countries from turning into genocide. Juan Mendez tells VOAthe situation is particularly dangerious in Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republicof Congo, northern Uganda, and Sudan's conflict-ridden province of Darfur()

Mendez says early warnings of a genocide include the spread of religiousintolerance, racism and xenophobia. He says his job is to monitor countries tosee whether these signs are present and to issue warnings to the world communityto prevent genocide.

Besides the Darfur region of Sudan, Mendez says another danger area is theIvory Coast, where there are signs of growing intolerance against immigrants.The intolerance extends even to people who have been born in the country, butare not considered true Ivorians.

"The problem as well is that the tension is so high and there are armedmilitias and there is extensive hate speech, all of which creates a situation oftension that can quickly derive into mass violence and mass violence in whichthese so-called non-Ivorians are at risk," he said()

U.N. genocide expert Mendez says other countries of concern include northernUganda, Myanmar, West Papua in Indonesia, Central Asia and the Caucuses andColombia, where, he says, indigenous populations are at risk of extinction.